Empowering Transformation with Change Management

A food distribution company needed to better manage customer and product information and drive business strategy by moving 30 operating companies onto a single, new Enterprise Data Management (EDM) system. To be a complete success they need to tackle a number of people-related challenges, including:

Geographically dispersed and entrenched users

In-person training culture

High degree of process and technology change

Poor previous experiences with technology rollouts

Results

The new system was delivered to more than 900 employees in 35 locations across the country over a 6-week time period. Adoption of the new tool happened quickly with more than 2,800 new items successfully requested through the system in the first two weeks. The Vice President of Procurement from the organization stated, “this was the most well-run and supported training and communications for any IT project we have done as a company.”

80%

Training Participants Satisfied

Communication, sponsorship, and training

We partnered to design and execute a Change Management Strategy for the program that included communication, sponsorship, and training activities.

The Communication Plan created a roadmap of messages needed to build awareness and drive buy-in for the initiative. We provided users with early, honest, and consistent messages about the upcoming changes, which alleviated resistance and increased buy-in.

The Sponsorship Plan outlined activities and responsibilities of the primary sponsor and other business leaders at each phase of the project. These individuals took visible and active roles in driving changes within their specific divisions, cutting down on resistance.

To develop the Training Plan, the team conducted a needs assessment to outline learning objectives for each stakeholder group and create a role-based training curriculum. The training was delivered virtually using Adobe Connect Webinars to reach all users over one and a half months.